Amyra Dastur

ACTOR

INITIALLY, I WAS VERY anti-yoga. But when the film industry’s pressures became too much to handle, I realised the exercises I was doing were aggressive and tiring. I needed to do something to calm down. My fitness coach Umesh Hasolkar suggested I do body controlling exercises, agility training and gymnastics. That’s how yoga came into my life.

In the beginning, I wasn’t flexible at all. I couldn’t touch my toes. I used to have back pains, but it’s in a better shape now. Yoga has made my dance more fluid and graceful. If I am stressed, half way into the training I just begin to feel better and happier. When you are doing something on your own and you realise you can do it, it takes away the anxiety. Yoga has helped me build on my mental strength.

I started only last year at the age of 23. It’s never too late to do it. Now whenever I am in Mumbai I make it a point to spend an hour and a half to do yoga.

A lot of people think that yoga breathing exercise isn’t really an exercise. They believe going to the gym for an hour or two and sweating it out is what shows results. Their bodies may be looking better but they don’t have the strength. If you don’t have control over your muscles and get the level of flexibility that you need, it’s not being fit. With yoga, you are using your own body weight for weight training which is better than a machine. It is just you and your body. I feel yoga is a way of life. The discipline it brings in your life comes naturally. It is bettering yourself in all aspects of life.